Category: Technology

When the first big wave of handheld PCs hit the market two to three years ago, they were designed as more travel-friendly and convenient alternatives to traditional gaming rigs. That meant reduced performance in exchange for increased portability. However, there will always be enthusiasts who want more: increased horsepower, better battery life and all sorts of extra features. Out of all the handhelds on the market today, there’s practically no device with more tools and special equipment than the Lenovo Legion Go 2. However, just like a luxury SUV, this bucket of components commands a hefty premium and has capabilities that you might not use every day. But if you are the type of person who’s looking for a flagship portable PC with all the bells and whistles, the Legion Go 2 is a true utility gaming handheld. 

Design

The Legion Go 2 looks like a Switch 2 that’s fattened up before hibernating for the winter. It has the same basic design with detachable controllers on either side and a screen in the middle; it’s just way bigger and bulkier. The Legion Go 2 weighs two pounds and measures 11.6 inches wide (with its controllers attached) compared to 1.6 pounds and 11.4 inches for the ROG Xbox Ally X (and that’s including its big, pronounced grips). Both devices make the Switch 2 look downright petite with its  1.2 pounds and 10.7-inch-wide frame.

Both the Legion Go 2’s left and right controllers can be detached. However, Lenovo used regular old latches instead of magnets, so removing them is clunkier compared to the Switch 2.

Unfortunately, without the magnets that Nintendo uses on the Joy-Con, disconnecting the gamepads on the Legion Go 2 isn’t nearly as smooth or easy, but it’s still relatively manageable. On the flipside, Lenovo uses Hall Effect sensors for its joysticks, which makes them super responsive, even though they’re lighter to push around. I appreciate that, unlike many of its rivals, Lenovo kept the kickstand from its predecessor, as it’s super handy if you want to prop the Legion Go 2 up and use it like a mini desktop.

Elsewhere, there is a familiar layout for the Legion Go 2’s D-pad, face buttons and shoulder triggers/bumpers, along with two pairs of paddles around back. Critically, Lenovo retained the built-in touchpad on the right controller, which is super handy for those times when you need to mouse around in the Windows 11 desktop. And like its predecessor, you can detach the right gamepad, flick the hidden switch on the bottom into FPS mode and then combine it with Lenovo’s included base to create a vertical mouse of sorts.

Here’s how the size of the Lenovo Legion Go 2 (top) compares to a major rival like the ROG Xbox Ally X (bottom).

Ostensibly, this setup is meant for people who want extra precision in shooters and there is even an extra set of mouse buttons and an embedded scroll wheel on the controller for that reason. The one hiccup for me is that the puck isn’t that much smaller than a typical travel mouse. If I really want ultimate control in FPS games, I’m going to use one of those instead of Lenovo’s more awkward alternative. 

As for connectivity, the Legion Go 2 features two USB-C ports (one on top and one on bottom) which support data (up to 40 Gbps), power delivery and display output. There’s also a microSD card slot for expandable storage and a 3.5mm audio jack. 

While a lot of rival handhelds skip this feature, I appreciate that Lenovo still put a kickstand on the back of the Legion Go 2.

I have two small nitpicks with the Legion Go 2’s design (aside from its size). First, the headphone port is on the bottom, which isn’t ideal as I feel like the top USB-C connector is easier to use when gaming while plugged into the wall. Secondly, Lenovo’s fingerprint reader (which is built into the power button) is rather finicky. I didn’t have issues unlocking the device, but the sensor is so sensitive that often when I pressed the power button to put the Legion Go 2 into sleep mode, the screen turned off before turning itself on again. This resulted in multiple occasions where I thought I put the handheld to sleep inside the included case (kudos to Lenovo for that freebie) only to come back to a device that was very much awake and felt like it was on the verge of cooking itself inside its padded enclosure. 

Display

One of the best features on the Legion Go 2 is its massive 8.8-inch OLED display.

If money and size are not an issue, Lenovo’s massive OLED display is the biggest reason to choose the Legion Go 2 over rivals like the ROG Xbox Ally X. At 8.8 inches, it’s significantly larger than the 7-inch panel on the ASUS or the 7.9-inch screen on a Switch 2. Not only are its colors super rich and saturated, it has a slightly higher 144Hz refresh rate and a taller 16:10 resolution (1,920 x 1,200). And at 500 nits, it’s just as bright as the screen on the ROG Xbox Ally X. The downside is that if you want to game at the Legion Go 2’s native res, it does take a little bit of extra performance to achieve stable, playable framerates. 

Performance and software

The $1,100 base model of the Legion Go 2 comes with an AMD Ryzen Z2 chip with 16GB of memory and 1TB of storage. However, if you want even better performance, you’ll need to upgrade to the $1,350 version that comes with a Z2 Extreme chip and 32GB of RAM, which is the configuration I tested for this review. Frankly, that is a lot of money to drop on a gaming handheld of any kind, though the Legion Go 2 does make up for it with class-leading performance. Well, almost.

If you want big performance, the Z2 Extreme version of the Legion Go 2 is among the best on the market.

While the maxed SKUs of both the Legion Go 2 and ROG Xbox Ally x are based on the same Z2 Extreme chip, Microsoft was able to tweak some of Windows 11’s tasks and services that run in the background on Lenovo’s’ rival. And while there isn’t a huge gap between the two, that optimization does make a difference. 

Generally, the ROG Xbox Ally produced framerates that were around seven percent higher than what I got from the Legion Go 2 at the same graphics settings and resolution. In Cyberpunk 2077  at 35 watts on medium, 1080p resolution and FSR set to performance, the Legion Go 2 hit 57.5 fps compared to 62.1 fps for the ROG Xbox Ally X. Meanwhile in Returnal at 17 watts on medium, the Lenovo reached 39 fps versus 42 for ASUS. Depending on the game and the exact resolution you’re using, that could mean the difference between something being a good experience or not. For example, in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at 1080p on medium, the ROG Xbox Ally X hovered right around 30 fps. Granted, that isn’t ideal, but it’s not bad for a handheld running a relatively new title. But on the Legion Go 2 at its native res, its average framerate was closer to 25 fps, which forced me to drop down to low settings to get a smoother experience. 

This is what the Legion Go 2’s controller looks like when you use it in FPS mode.

Like a lot of Windows-based handhelds, it’s important to remember that you get more speed when connected to a power outlet. For example, the Legion Go 2’s Performance mode tops out at 20 watts when not plugged in, but increases to 32 watts when it is. And if you want to go all out, you’re best off using the Custom setting, which gives you a sustained TDP of 35 watts and the ability to boost to 45 watts for up to 10 seconds. 

As for the software, Lenovo’s Legion Space app has come a long way and it’s turned into a solid one-stop shop for launching games, adjusting settings and tweaking performance. As always with Windows-based handhelds, there’s still a bit of awkwardness during setup when you’re installing titles and having to switch between various menus. Thankfully, Lenovo’s built-in touchpad helps smooth that out quite a bit. I’d also argue that because of that trackpad and the handheld’s adaptable design, the Legion Go 2 is the most well-equipped portable for anyone who wants to use it like a mini PC. You can prop the display up with its kickstand, connect a display via USB-C and pair a wireless keyboard and mouse (or use the right controller in FPS mode) and suddenly you’ve got a little desktop for getting some real work done. (Who are we kidding, this is still going to be used for gaming, just on a bigger display with better controls.)

Battery Life

The top edge of the Legion Go 2 features one USB-C port and its power button/fingerprint reader, while the other is on the bottom along with a 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD card reader.

Thanks to a 74WHr cell and a more efficient chip, the Legion Go 2 has gotten a nice bump battery life over its predecessor. However, due to its big display, its longevity isn’t quite as good compared to the ROG Xbox Ally X. I tested this by playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at 1080p on medium graphics and max brightness. The Legion Go 2 did well, lasting almost three hours, though that was 30 minutes shy of what I got from the ROG Xbox Ally X. While you can game for a decent length of time untethered, for any longer trips or time away from an outlet, you’ll definitely want to keep the included 65-watt power adapter close at hand. 

Wrap-up

The Lenovo Legion Go 2 is large and in charge — both in price and size. The base model starts at $1,100, which is already $100 more than a fully kitted-out ROG Xbox Ally X with a Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip. Meanwhile, to get the same silicon on Lenovo’s handheld, you have to shell out $1,350, and even then, its performance still lags just a tad behind Microsoft and ASUS’ collab. But what the Legion Go 2 lacks in value, it makes up for in versatility.

The Legion Go 2 comes with an included case and a puck that turns its right controller into a vertical mouse.

Its 8.8-inch OLED display is a huge upgrade in terms of both screen space and image quality, while features like its touchpad, detachable controllers and kickstand make this thing feel more like a portable hybrid PC than a single-purpose gaming machine. Just like an SUV that might go off-road once or twice a year, you might not use the Legion Go 2’s full capabilities all the time, but when you do and everything comes together, you realize all that utility isn’t just for show. While the ROG Xbox Ally X is the better value, I appreciate how Lenovo’s handheld was made to handle a variety of battle conditions. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/lenovo-legion-go-2-review-the-utility-pc-gaming-handheld-120000533.html?src=rss 

Adobe has released the latest version of Firefly that now leans heavily on AI for nearly every facet of video and image post-production. The updated app can now use AI to generate narration, music, images and video clips, while even helping you to brainstorm ideas and piece together clips. Many creators may find it distasteful to lean on AI for nearly every aspect of production, but Adobe calls it “a tool for, not a replacement of, human creativity.”

Firefly has mostly been a content generation tool until now, but Adobe has now introduced the Firefly video editor into private beta. It’s a web-based multitrack timeline editor, not unlike Adobe Premiere Pro, that lets you generate, organize, trim and arrange clips, with tools to add voiceovers, soundtracks and titles. You can organize existing Firefly content or generate new ones inside the editor (with presets like claymation, anime and 2D), and combine that with captured media. All that can be edited with “frame-by-frame precision or through a built-in transcript,” Adobe said. 

On top of video, Firefly eliminates the need for humans to make voiceovers and music, too. Adobe’s new Generate Soundtrack (public beta) is a Firefly Audio Model-powered AI music generator that lets you select a style or comes up with one to match any clip you upload. It then syncs and times it precisely with that footage. 

Generate Speech, meanwhile, does the same thing for voiceovers. It gives you a choice between Firefly’s Speech Model and one for ElevenLabs, letting you generate “lifelike voices in multiple languages, and fine-tune emotion, pacing and emphasis for natural, expressive delivery.” 

Adobe is also expanding access to its Fire!y Creative Production tool directly in the Fire!y app as a private beta to start with. It’s a complete AI-powered batch image editing system that lets creators piece together clips, automatically replace backgrounds, apply uniform color grading and crop in via a prompt-driven, no code interface. 

Then there’s Fire!y Boards, an “AI-powered ideation surface” to brainstorm new concepts. A feature called “Rotate Object” helps you convert 2D images into 3D so you can position objects and people in different poses and rotate them to new perspectives. Two others, PDF exporting and bulk image downloading, speed the the process of sharing visual concepts across projects.

Finally, Prompt to Edit (available now on Firefly) is a conversational editing interface that allows you to use everyday language to describe the edits you want to make to an image, much as you’d use text-to-image tools like Midjourney to create new images. It’s available with Adobe’s latest Fire!y Image Model 5 AI, along with partner models from Black Forest Labs, Google and OpenAI.

With Firefly’s AI now able to handle every aspect of production, you may be wondering if this will result in a wave of unwatchable AI “slop” appearing on YouTube and elsewhere. The answer is “probably,” but it won’t necessarily be cheap. Standalone Firefly subscriptions are $10/month for the basic plan (20 five-second videos), $20/month for the the Pro plan (40 five-second videos) and $199 for the Premium plan (unlimited videos). However, Adobe is throwing in free image and video generation (with some restrictions) for all Firefly and Creative Cloud Pro customers until December 1st. All the new tools are now available either as part of the update, in public beta or in private beta as mentioned above. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/adobes-firefly-can-now-use-ai-to-generate-soundtracks-speech-and-video-120018593.html?src=rss 

Among the usual slew of AI enhancements to its Creative Cloud apps, Adobe has introduced a new Photoshop AI Assistant to help automate repetitive chores and provide personalized recommendations. At Adobe Max 2025, the company also introduced new tools for Photoshop, Premiere and Lightroom, while launching a new AI generative model and bringing in new third party models from Topaz and others. 

A key new feature in Photoshop and Express (Adobe’s all-in-one design, photo, and video tool) is the AI Assistant that lets you can chat with in a conversational manner to gain “more control, power and potential time-savings,” according to Adobe. With that, you can tell it to take on a series of creative tasks like color correction on resizing. You can easily switch between prompts with the agent and manual tools like sliders to adjust brightness and contrast. It can also provide personalized recommendations and offer tutorials on how to accomplish complex tasks. 

In a brief demo, Adobe showed that when you switch to Photoshop’s “agentic” mode in those apps, it minimizes the usual complex interface and leaves you with a simple prompt-based UI. You can then type in the task you want to accomplish, and the agent will perform those steps automatically. You can then jump back into the full interface to fine tune the result by changing things like brightness or levels. 

Along with the AI Assistant, Adobe introduced a few other AI tools for Photoshop. Chief among those are new partner models for generative fill that lets you easily remove unwanted objects and fill in the hole left behind. Those include Google Gemini 2.5 f!ash, Black Forest Labs FLUX.1 Kontext and Adobe’s latest Firefly Image Models. It also introduced Firefly Image Model 5, Adobe’s most advanced image generation model yet. 

Photoshop also gains new Generative Upscale option that uses Topaz Lab’s AI to upscale small, cropped and other low-resolution images into 4K with “realistic detail,” Adobe says. Another feature, Harmonize, lets you place objects or people into different environments in a realistic manner, eliminating much of work necessary for such compositing. Harmonize also matches the light, color and tone of foreground objects and people to the background.

Premiere, meanwhile, introduced a similar feature called AI Object Mask that performs automatic identification and isolation of people and objects in video, so they can be edited and tracked without any manual rotoscoping. The app also gains new rectangle, ellipse and pen masking in Premiere to make targeted adjustments, along with a fast vector mask for quicker tracking. 

Finally, LIghtroom is getting a new feature called Assisted Culling. It lets you quickly and easily identify the best images in a large photo collection, with the ability to filter for things like focus level, angles and degrees of sharpness. 

Photoshop’s Generative Fill with Partner Models, Generative Upscale and Harmonize are now available to customers today. Premiere’s AI Object Mask, Rectangle, Ellipse and Pen Masking and Fast Vector Mask, along with Lightroom’s AI Assisted Culling, launch today in beta. Adobe’s Photoshop AI Assistant, meanwhile, will be available through a private beta waitlist. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/adobes-new-photoshop-ai-assistant-can-automate-repetitive-tasks-120032017.html?src=rss 

Spinning off from Rivian, the TM-B e-bike is Also’s attempt at a do-it-all e-bike. It’s pitching it as flexible enough for commuting, trail riding or kid- and cargo-hauling because its modular frame can swap in bench seats or cargo racks. But the frame only comes in a single size. Still, Also (hate that name) says the standard battery is good for 60 miles of riding and can be charged via USB-C.

Besides the modularity, another unique feature is its drive system, called DreamRide. Instead of a mechanical connection between the bike’s rear wheel and the pedals, the TM-B uses “software-defined pedaling,” so pedaling transfers to the generator (and the battery) instead of simply pushing you forward. It’s a different take on e-bike riding, and I’m not entirely sold on it.

From the people that brought you Rivian vehicles, there are plenty more tech touches, including a 5-inch touchscreen display and a built-in security system that automatically locks the frame and rear wheel when you walk away, a la Cowboy and VanMoof.

The first model to ship will be the $4,500 TM-B Limited Launch Edition, which has a range of up to 100 miles. There’s also a $4,500 TM-B Performance model, with a slightly different color scheme, available in the “first half” of 2026. Finally, there’s a base-level TM-B model with a range of up to 60 miles, which only comes with standard ride modes. Also hasn’t announced an exact price but says it will cost less than $4,000 when it ships “later in 2026.”

— Mat Smith

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Google’s AI health coach will soon be available to some Fitbit Premium users

You’ll chat with a bot.

A preview version of Google’s long-awaited AI health coach launches tomorrow for some Fitbit Premium users in the US. Google says it’ll incorporate user feedback to “add, change or improve features and capabilities.” The company warns users that “initially, there will be some gaps” as it sort of beta tests the coach. The coach can be a sounding board for personal health, fitness and sleep goals and also acts as a personal trainer. Google says it can check progress, create workouts, give advice on trends and review and adjust fitness plans.

Continue reading.

US Customs and Border Protection will photograph visitors for facial recognition database

Welcome to America.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) submitted a new measure that allows it — for facial recognition — to photograph any non-US citizen who enters or exits the country. CBP and the Department of Homeland Security want to crack down on threats of terrorism, fraudulent use of travel documents and anyone who exceeds their authorized stay, according to a filing with the government’s Federal Register. The government agency can already request photos and fingerprints from anyone entering the country, but this rule change would allow it to gather photos of anyone exiting as well.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111545206.html?src=rss 

Grokipedia, the encyclopedia powered by xAI’s assistant Grok briefly went online Monday, before it promptly crashed. At the time of this writing, the website appears to be working, and contains more than 885,000 articles, according to a counter on its homepage.   

Musk, who has previously railed against Wikipedia, has described the project as a “a necessary step towards the xAI goal of understanding the Universe.” Musk and his allies have long claimed that Wikipedia is biased. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has called Musk’s claims about the crowd-sourced encyclopedia “factually incorrect.” 

Musk said last week that Grokipedia’s launch had been delayed in order “to do more work to purge out the propaganda.” Notably, some articles are nearly identical to their entries in Wikipedia, though Grokipedia doesn’t contain in-line links to sources in the same format. Such entries do have a small disclaimer that “the content is adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.”

In other cases, social media users have already spotted instances where Musk’s worldview is more obvious in the “AI-powered encyclopedia.” Here’s an excerpt from the entry for “university,” as captured by Bluesky user Jeremy Cohen. 

Bluesky screenshot of a Grokipedia entry for “university.”

And here’s a screenshot of Grokipedia’s entry for Musk, which was captured by Bleusky user Miles Lee. 

Grokipedia entry for Elon Musk.

X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/xs-grokipedia-is-online-after-it-briefly-crashed-out-231108836.html?src=rss 

The movie industry has been in a tailspin for years, with many people foregoing the theatrical experience in favor of watching films at home. I get it. Going to the movies can be expensive and, let’s face it, dealing with other people can be annoying (it’s been 10 years and I’m still mad about those teenagers who would not stop giggling all the way through my first viewing of The Witch). But there’s nothing quite like going to a theater and getting lost in a great film for a couple of hours. In addition, large-scale formats are growing in popularity and theater chains are trying to accommodate moviegoers.

Cinemark is installing more IMAX screens, including ones that support 70mm film projection. The company is adding such screens to its locations in Woodridge, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago); Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Rochester, New York. It’s also adding four IMAX with Laser systems — a 4K laser offering — to other locations in the US in the coming months. It’s upgrading its other 12 IMAX screens across the Americas with that tech too.

According to Variety, Cinemark plans to have the new IMAX 70mm film screens set up by July 17, 2026. That’s the release date for Christopher Nolan’s next film, The Odyssey, which is the first theatrical release to be shot entirely in IMAX. As it stands, only 30 movie theaters on the planet can screen films in IMAX 70mm, which is Nolan’s preferred format.

IMAX is proving popular with cinemagoers who are looking for a large-format experience that would be impossible at home (at least not without an obscene private screen). Indeed, many IMAX 70mm screenings of The Odyssey sold out a year in advance.

IMAX 70mm isn’t the only format with limited availability that’s drawing audiences to theaters. Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is the first movie in 60 years to be projected in the VistaVision format, but only at a few locations. The film is currently being screened in IMAX 70mm in some cinemas too.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/cinemark-is-adding-more-70mm-imax-screens-ahead-of-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey-194155824.html?src=rss 

Google has teamed up with the United Service Organizations (USO) to help deployed service members stay in touch with their families in a different way. As part of a pilot program, the company is bringing Google Beam, its 3D video communication tech, to USO service centers in the US and other countries starting in 2026.

Google suggests that Beam can help military families who are separated by many miles feel like they are in the same room. While family members can keep in touch with deployed loved ones through group chats and video calls, chatting via Beam could help them feel closer together, if the tech works as well as promised.

We got our first look at Beam — then known as Project Starline — in 2021. The holographic teleconferencing system uses 3D imaging, spatial audio and adaptive lighting to make video chats more immersive. Beam is primarily intended for enterprise clients (the first such device costs $25,000), but it’s interesting to see Google exploring other applications for the tech.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/google-is-bringing-beam-its-3d-video-conferencing-tech-to-deployed-service-members-174500517.html?src=rss